

The 98-page Georgia election bill covers many aspects of voting access, ballot counting, election oversight and runoffs.īesides requiring ID numbers to vote absentee, the bill mandates that ballot drop boxes be located inside early voting locations, limiting their usefulness. “It’s sick.” Explore Corporate reaction: Most Georgia companies try to skirt the election law dispute “What I’m worried about is how un-American this whole initiative is,” Biden said. He’s backing a far-reaching federal voting rights bill pending in the U.S. Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger has said the November election was successful and accurate.Īs Georgia lawmakers debated the bill, Biden criticized attempts by Republican-led state legislatures across the country seeking to create new voting restrictions. Many Republican state legislators expressed sympathy for suspicions about the presidential race, though election officials say there’s no evidence of widespread fraud. “This is a solid step in the right direction to provide voter integrity in Georgia.” “Our goal is to ensure that voters in Georgia have confidence in the elections process,” said state Sen. Recounts both by hand and machine showed that Democrat Joe Biden defeated Republican Donald Trump by about 12,000 votes. Republican lawmakers said the measure will increase trust in election outcomes following unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud in the 2020 presidential contest. “Too many people fought, bled and died for our right to vote.” Explore Coke and Delta oppose Georgia's 'unacceptable" voting law changes You are changing the rules, cutting the voting hours, and making it more difficult for people to vote,” said state Rep. “It is unbelievable that there are still some people trying to stop people from voting today. The bill calls for runoffs to be held four weeks after general elections, leaving little time for early voting. In addition, there will be as little as one week of early voting before runoffs, down from the current three-week early voting period.
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Over 200,000 Georgia voters lack a driver’s license or state ID number, meaning they will need to submit additional proof of their identities. Explore Lawmaker arrested during election bill signing: ‘Voter suppression in Georgia is alive today’Ĭredit: Alyssa Pointer / Alyssa Pointer / of the bill said it will create obstacles for voting, especially on absentee ballots and in runoffs.Ībsentee voters will be required to submit driver’s license numbers or other documentation under a new process for checking their identity, replacing signature matching processes. Senate, giving them control of the chamber. Then in January, Democrats won two runoffs for the U.S. The election overhaul in a state with a history of voting rights struggles came after the first victory in Georgia by a Democrat in a presidential election since 1992.

The lawsuit by The New Georgia Project, Black Voters Matter and Rise opposes absentee ID requirements, drop box limits, provisional ballot invalidations, and food and drink bans. Several voting organizations filed a federal lawsuit to stop the bill Thursday night, saying it creates “unjustifiable burdens” especially on minority, young, poor and disabled voters. There’s no doubt there were many alarming issues with how the election was handled, and those problems, understandably, led to a crisis of confidence in the ballot box here in Georgia,” Kemp said after signing the bill. “Significant reforms to our state elections were needed. Supporters of the measure, Senate Bill 202, said it will protect election integrity.
